


It’s just a temporary thing

by sweetheartshumjr



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 12 Days of Christmas, Angst, Brother Feels, Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Bonding, Brotherly Love, Cinnamon Roll Newt Scamander, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Theseus Scamander, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Protective Newt Scamander, Protective Siblings, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 13:56:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17122652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetheartshumjr/pseuds/sweetheartshumjr
Summary: Day 10: No crying allowed on Christmas





	It’s just a temporary thing

**Author's Note:**

> All thanks to my amazing beta [knaveryact ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/knaveryact)  
> 

Theseus laid awake in bed, his breaths shallow and uneven, a deep sense of panic overtaking him. The remainings of the nightmare wouldn’t leave, no matter if his eyes were closed or opened. He couldn’t rid himself of the image.

The sight of his little brother’s limp body kept haunting him. In the dream he had been crying, holding him, praying that Newt would wake up… He called his parents and Newt’s name for so long he went hoarse, but to no answer. Just the thought of it made Thesues’ eyes tear up again, this time in real life. He cleanched his jaw and covered up his mouth as not to let any sound of his sobs escape.

He was at loss of what to do with himself. Deep down he knew that he needed some comfort, but he didn’t want to wake anyone. Going to Newt’s room was out of the question; his brother simply couldn’t see him in such a state. His father would probably just make him go back to sleep, he’d say that it was just a stupid dream, or that he was overdramatic. Maybe his mother then… But there was no way to wake her without waking dad too, and Theseus wanted to avoid it at all costs.

Terrified of no options left, his breath quickened again, and suddenly Theseus started to cough violently. He quickly stood up, trying to get some more air into his lungs, but fell on the floor. He froze for a moment; the thud was so loud, it must’ve woken someone… But he couldn’t. He has to take care of himself, to man up, to…

His train of thoughts was stopped when he heard a creak of his bedroom floor. It was hard to see who stood in them, in the darkness and with vision clouded by the tears he tried to fight back. He bowed his head in shame. But instead of hearing his father’s voice, he felt small hands on his shoulders. Suprised he raised his gaze, meeting Newt’s blue eyes. Oh no. That was even worse. No, no, no, his little brother can’t see him like this!

He tried to move away but Newt’s grip on him was stronger that Theseus would have expected. So instead he closed his eyes and tried to even out his breath. Somewhere it registered that his brother kept talking, but the words were nothing but a blur, his mind too foggy to understand. Until one sentence struck him and managed to get through the gloom.

“… and Mum always says, no crying allowed on Christmas.”

Theseus almost laughed in Newt’s face at the absurd of the childlish sentiment. It was also so… So Newt. But instead, he sobbed more violently, and despite his mind telling him not to, that he doesn’t want that, he grabbed Newt, hugging him tightly and breaking down.

As soon as he did that he wanted to back off. Newt wasn’t okay with hugs, especially his hugs. Yeah, he accepted them on rare occasions, sure, but it was heavily mood dependant and situational. Theseus was quite sure that seeing his older brother, a person who’s supposed to protect him, breaking down like this wasn’t something Newt would want to see, let alone to have to calm him down.

Theseus was surprised for the second time that night, though, when he felt Newt hugging him back, and hesitantly, delicately running his fingers through Theseus’ hair. It was the same gesture he did to Newt when he had an attack. The kid was saying something, quietly, but he still couldn’t hear clearly and he only guessed those were words of comfort.

It took Newt a long time to actually calm his brother down. After a while Theseus’ breath evened, and he only let out a quiet sobs every once in a while. At least he could feel air in his lungs again. It seemed like forever. Feeling better, Theseus withdrew himself from his brother’s embrace, with gaze fixed on the floor.

“Quite a view, isn’t it?” he asked bitterly, wiping his face with the back of his hand. He wasn’t sure if he was talking to Newt or to himself, really. He just felt the need to break this akward silence. But when Newt didn’t answer he added, “You can go now, Newtty. I can handle myself.”

“Clearly,” he answered, eyeing him judgingly. “Do you want me to go and…”

“No!” Theseus nearly screamed, startling both of them. “No,” he repeated, whispering. “It won’t be necessary.”

Another moment of silence. The clock on his nightstand was ticking steadily, making Theseus slowly grow mad.

“What happened?” Newt asked, hesitantly moving closer to his brother, who still kept watching the floor. “You scared me, ‘Seus.”

Theseus bit his lip and closed his eyes, trying to stop the overwhelming wave of guilt. Perfect, he scared his brother. Could he be more of a failure?

“I’m sorry for scaring you,” he said quietly, looking anywhere but his brother. He tried reading the time on the clock, but it was too dark. “I promise, it won’t happen again.” Because I won’t let you see that, he thought.

“It’s all right, you know,” Newt said. Theseus chuckled humourlessly. “Really. You’re always telling me that, when I break down.”

“I guess I do, huh?”

“Yeah,” Newt whispered.

Theseus let out a sigh. “Newt, really, you can go to bed now. I’ll be all right, I promise,” he said, finally raising his eyes to look at his brother. The younger one raised his eyebrows, doubtingly.

“Then why do I not trust you?”

Theseus pretended like he haven’t heard him. “I know talking about feelings isn’t something you’re comfortable with,” he said instead. Newt akwardly scratched his neck, opening his mouth to say something, but Theseus interrupted him before he managed. “And I want you to know that I really appreciate what you did tonight. But I don’t want you doing something you’re not okay with.”

“But I wanna help!” Newt said a bit too loud, moving closer. “I told you this when you were sick! I want to take care of you as well!”

Theseus was quite stunned by his brother’s words. He didn’t know that Newt cared this much about him. Sighing, he opened his mouth to refuse, but the look Newt was giving him made him say something completely different.

“Okay” he heard himself say. “What do you want to do?”

“Uhh… I can stay with you?” Newt asked, unsure. Theseus blinked a few times. “What?”

“Nothing,” the older one said. “But that’d mean we would have to fit in my bed. And I know how you are with your personal space, Newtty and…”

“I’ll manage,” Newt said with a surprising determination in his voice.

“I guess you really want to help, huh?” he asked, standing up. Newt followed suit, but right before he was about to slip under the covers he stopped. “And how will we explain it to our parents?”

“That I had a bad dream. Now go to sleep, mum’ll go crazy tomorrow with cleaning,” Newt answered, already in bed. Theseus sighed, seeing his brother’s stubborness. He had to admit that it was a little werid, being taken care of by his little brother, yet it felt… nice. Just this once, he thought to himself, finally getting into bed and turning on the side away from Newt, to let the boy have at least a little bit of personal space. He then muttered in the darkness:

“Thank you, Newtty.”

And before darkness took him, he heard quiet: “You’re welcome, ‘Seus.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come and yell at me on tumblr @shumscamander


End file.
